Archive for September, 2007

Sound Kitchen

By Collin, 28 September, 2007, No Comment

I am an extraordinarily blessed guy. I haven’t been here long at all but already I’ve learned a wealth of information and gotten to see some amazing stuff. Like today, for instance, I got to sit in on a session at a professional studio called The Sound Kitchen. You should check the link for their roster of clients. Yes, there were platinum albums hanging on the walls in the hallway. Yes, there was a sheik chill room / kitchen. Yes, it was amazing. And yes, I got pictures for you to marvel at the cool opportunities God is giving me.

One of our teachers “canceled” our once-a-week class because he had an opportunity to record a big band at the Sound Kitchen. He turned it into a kind of field trip for us.

We started off the trip with a stop a Wendy’s and, since I’m a ham, I couldn’t resist.

The high-class entrance to the studio.

The aforementioned lounge area.

The magical control room in the “Big Boy” studio.

The required console (custom API Legacy Plus, 80 inputs) shot.

Logo proof of the custom design on the end of the console and stereotypical lava lamp.

More console porn.

Me badly faking mixing on the board : ) I had to be careful not to actually touch something during the recording process or tick off my teacher who was kinda busy doing real work while I was taking pictures.

The beautiful Pro Tools HD and G5 heart of the beast.

The Pro Tools monitor that says, if you can make it out, “Pro Tools HD 7.3.1″ in the top left corner. Those tiny letter and numbers cost so very much money.

Our crack team of graduate students adeptly and enthusiastically observing the session.

A broad shot of the, as they say in the biz, “tracking space”.

Some very cool diffusers/absorbers that did a mind boggling good job of isolating the piano while an entire big band played.

And the tracking space from the other side.

Did I mention how blessed I am? : )

Amazon.com Mp3 Downloads

By Collin, 25 September, 2007, 2 Comments

Sorry to be out of touch for a while. Such is the way of the blog during intense weeks of school : ) Thought you might want to know that Amazon.com just started offering DRM-free music downloads today and the albums are generally a dollar cheaper (sometimes more) than iTunes. For those of you who aren’t aware of DRM (Digital Rights Management), it’s the stuff that will only let you play your iTunes downloads on other devices or more than five computers. It’s the same kind of stuff that won’t let you copy your DVD’s onto your computer as well. They say it’s there to prevent piracy but it has little to no effect on that industry and instead functions primarily as a way to force you to buy a digital version of the movies/music you already own. DRM-free means you can play it on whatever portable Mp3 player you want and on as many computers as you want.

I think I’m switching download loyalties : )

My Horoscope

By Collin, 9 September, 2007, No Comment

I don’t understand why people doubt the validity of horoscopes. They’re obviously true. Here’s mine from the Murfreesboro Pulse for September.

As far as love goes, you feel more serious. Uranus has you sketched out about work. Everyone seems to be prodding and poking you in all the wrong ways, by try your best to remain collected and nicely tell everyone to back up off your sh*t or else you’ll get crazy on them. Make sure your wants and needs match the stamina you are willing to provide. Ambition only takes you so far; stamina is what leads you through.

Obviously, this was written by some dirty-minded little middle schoolers. But it’s still funny … and true. My anus has me sketched all the time, man.

“Certified Christian”

By Collin, 6 September, 2007, 2 Comments

I saw this image ad while I was browsing the web earlier today looking for a part-time job. I think it speaks for itself.

Today I got my first spam comment on the webpage. If I’m not mistaken, that means I have arrived.

We finally got the pictures up from all of our shows and you should go check them out. It’d be good to go see all of the updates at CollinDerrick.com or you can go directly to the online albums here. Also, the Ground Zero pre-show video is available now as well. Plus, new videos introducing our newest band member are on the YouTube site.

For those of you who don’t aren’t overly committed (read: unstable and addicted) to everything that Apple makes OR aren’t friends with such a person, you should know that there are new iPods and they are pretty.

The randomness continues with my wish short-list of instruments (real and virtual):

Martin acoustic
accordian
Clavia Nord Electro II

Things that our teachers have recommended us to purchase since the first day (cheapest options):

Mac ($600)
Mbox ProTools interface ($250)
Thumb Drive ($10 appx)
Firewire Hard drive ($70)
Headphones ($300 min)

Thats a total of $1230 for the bare minimum. I need to start having children and build a sweatshop for them to work in.

I went to a website where you put in your weight, height, age, etc. and it spits charts of the healthy weight ranges back at you. At the end of the results page it had a list of suggested activities.

Healthy Exercise Suggestions

Washing and waxing a car for 45 to 60 minutes

Washing windows or floors for 45 to 60 minutes
Playing volleyball for 45 minutes
Playing touch football for 30 to 45 minutes
Gardening for 30 to 45 minutes
Wheeling oneself in a wheelchair for 30 to 40 minutes
Walking 1.5 miles in 35 minutes
Basketball (shooting baskets) for 30 minutes
Bicycling 3 miles in 30 minutes
Fast social dancing for 30 minutes
Pushing a stroller 1.5 miles in 30 minutes
Raking leaves for 30 minutes
Walking 2 miles in 30 minutes
Water aerobics for 30 minutes
Swimming laps for 20 minutes
Wheelchair basketball for 20 minutes
Basketball (playing a game) for 15 to 20 minutes
Bicycling 4 miles in 15 minutes
Running 1.5 miles in 15 minutes
Shoveling snow for 15 minutes
Climbing stairs for 15 minutes

You remember the Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the others”? Just curious.

Ground Zero

By Collin, 2 September, 2007, 1 Comment

It is currently the early A.M. of the Sunday morning following our raucous show at Spartanburg’s premier rock venue. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us play. We really had a lot of fun at the show. It was somewhat of an experimental set but I think it came off pretty well. And, as any good cataloger, I am providing you with the media hookup. Here is our evening in picture.

The “sign” for Ground Zero on their building.